Arrow: “Next of Kin” Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Sometimes, a great ending can make all the difference. That’s really the big takeaway from this week’s “Arrow.” “Next of Kin” didn’t quite sell me on the idea of John Diggle becoming the new Green Arrow. It delivered a fairly formulaic story of one hero trying his best to rise to the challenge and fill another’s shoes (or hood, rather). But with the final scene casting everything in a significantly different light, maybe there’s hope for Diggle’s superhero phase yet.

I’ve had major concerns about the idea of passing the Green Arrow mantle onto Diggle for any significant length of time, as well as reservations about how his post-Lian Yu status quo is being handled. “Next of Kin” seemed to bear out those concerns for a good 95% of its run-time. It followed a very predictable path, with Diggle trying his best to live up to this impossible responsibility, failing hard and then digging deep and overcoming all obstacles to lead his team to victory. Most annoying was the way his struggle seemed to wrap up so neatly and painlessly by the end. Apparently all Diggle needed to overcome his chronic nerve damage and severe psychological issues was a good pep talk and more focus in the battlefield.

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